Wesam Saleh's portfolio

TEACHING ENGLISH PUNCTUATION FOR EFL STUDENTS

go to the mini course

Needs Assessment

Instructional problem: The need for teaching explicit instruction of using English punctuation marks for EFL students

The nature of what is to be learned: Students will learn the various punctuation marks in English language

About the learners: Students are in an eighth grade EFL class and have minimal experience using punctuation marks. Students also have some writing skills regarding sentence structure.

Instructional content: Each unit will be designed based on the punctuation mark that is being addressed (i.e. comma, exclamation mark, full stop, question mark). Each unit will begin with an overview of that unit's learning objectives. It will also have an overview of the topic and the specific punctuation mark that will be focused on in the unit. Visual demonstrations will be used to illustrate each punctuation mark usage. Each unit will have activities to apply punctuation marks in contexts Students will accomplish writing assignment at the end of each unit.

Explore instructional problem/solutions: students may have problem in using English punctuation marks because punctuation marks are not heavily used in other languages. Difficulties with punctuation, however, affect all writers, whether they are native speakers or otherwise! When children grow up in an English speaking country they tend to learn to use punctuation almost 'intuitively. In this course, students will be exposed to a lot of written activities to give them the chance to practice using punctuation as much as possible

Generate goals: Students will be able to use punctuation marks in writing

Task Analysis

course purpose

As a result of participating in this mini course, students will become more familiar with the various English punctuation marks. They will understand and use a range of punctuation, including periods, commas,apostrophe, colons, semicolons exclamation marks and question marks .

learning outcomes

Upon completion of this course,

Students will be able to identify the importance of punctuation in written English.
Students will be able to punctuate simple sentences correctly.
Students will be able to punctuate a full paragraph correctly.

Prerequisite skills

Essential prerequisites:

Understanding sentence structure
Understanding various sentence types

Supporting prerequisites:

Willingness to learn
Independently motivated

Performance objectives

Given various different sentence types, students will identify the importance of using punctuation
Given various punctuation marks, students will apply these punctuation marks in writing sentences
Given various punctuation marks, students will apply punctuation in writing paragraphs

Curriculum map

The curriculum map for the course File:Curriculum Map for the Course.pdf

Rationale

In this course, an attempt is made to teach English grammar in a more situated way. In many parts of the world, English language teachers have changed, or are changing, from a traditional approach to teaching formal grammar rules to a more communicative approach to teaching how to use grammar meaningfully in context. In this course, however, I am focusing on both the form and the context. I believe that students should know the rule first and then they practice it in an authentic situation by relating it to their real-life experiences. So, in each lesson, students are to practice an activity that is related to their real life.

The materials used in the course varied, including printed and non-printed materials. A great deal of media is used including PowerPoint slides, visuals, videos, and audios, so that they meet most of students’ learning styles. The use of media in teaching doesn’t only make learning more fun but it also helps to enhance the students’ literacy of media and thus be more critical for the huge amount of media they are subjected to. Another important purpose of media in teaching language, especially videos, is that they provide students with many aspects of the target language culture which helps them understand the language better. In this course students don’t only receive but also produce the media. They are involved in activities to produce their own videos using Movie Maker programs. Students as creators of the media is an important approach to makes students more aware of the impact of media in their lives and become more literate about media texts

To increase the level of engagement, interactive games are used to assist learning. Language learning is a hard task which can sometimes be frustrating. Constant effort is required to understand, produce and manipulate the target language. Well-chosen games are invaluable as they give students a break and at the same time allow students to practice language skills. Games are highly motivating since they are amusing and at the same time challenging. Furthermore, they employ meaningful and useful language in real contexts. They also encourage and increase cooperation.